Algal goo might be good for us... or not

On the good side (and knock me over with a spoon that Evvil/Mobil, I mean Exxon/Mobil, is doing this):

Algae get Exxon's big biofuel bet

"Exxon estimates that algae could yield 2,000 gallons of fuel per acre each year. In comparison, palm trees yield 650 gallons and sugar cane 450 gallons. Corn, the most common source of biofuel in the United States, enjoying as it does a federal subsidy, generates only 250 gallons per acre per year. It also takes a considerable additional investment of energy to turn it into ethanol, and it competes for land with food-producing agriculture."

(to which should be added, though: Technology is key for biofuel success)

On the other hand, the following article includes a video of an aerial flyover of the goo (likely algal; I'm suprised that some kind of Phaeocystis hasn't been fingered yet) that's been sighted off Alaska:

Big blobs of mystery goo floating off Alaska's coast